Salt & Health

From the dawn of civilization, salt has been a key factor in economic, religious, social and political development. In every part of the world, salt has been the subject of superstition, folklore & warfare, it has even been used as currency Salt (compound), also sodium chloride, chemical compound that has the formula NaCl

Nutrition

Sodium: Essential in small amounts
Your body needs some sodium to function properly, Sodium:

• 1. Helps maintain the right balance of fluids in your body
• 2. Helps transmit nerve impulses
• 3. Influences the contraction and relaxation of muscles

Your kidneys regulate the amount of sodium kept in your body. When sodium levels are low, your kidneys conserve sodium. When levels are high, they excrete the excess amount in urine.If your kidneys can't eliminate enough sodium, the sodium starts to accumulate in your blood. Because sodium attracts and holds water, your blood volume increases. Increased blood volume, in turn, makes your heart work harder to move more blood through your blood vessels, increasing pressure in your arteries. Congestive heart failure, cirrhosis and chronic kidney disease can all lead to an inability to regulate sodium.
Some people are more sensitive to the effects of sodium than are others. People who are sodium-sensitive retain sodium more easily, leading to excess fluid retention and increased blood pressure. If you're in that group, extra sodium in your diet increases your chance of developing high blood pressure, a condition that can lead to cardiovascular and kidney diseases.

Nutrition
Sodium is the major component in table salt. While sodium is an essential nutrient, the amount needed daily is much less than the amount most people consume. Excess sodium has been linked, along with heredity and being overweight, to high blood pressure. People who are at risk for high blood pressure from other factors may be able to reduce their risk by decreasing their sodium intake. It is generally agreed by Government and Medical Researchers/Nutritionists that there is a need for salt (sodium) consumption to be reduced on average from 4g of salt per person per day to a maximum of 6g. This high salt intake is linked to increasing blood pressure levels leading to an increased risk of strokes, heart related problems and osteoporosis.” There is now good evidence that a high blood pressure can be associated with a low intake of potassium. Furthermore diets high in potassium have successfully lowered blood pressure in animal and human experiments.The effect of potassium supplementation is usually greater in experiments where the sodium consumption is high. This indicates that the balance (i.e. ratio) of these nutrients may be critical in achieving optimum nutrition.
A comparison of processed foods with the corresponding unprocessed ingredients such as flour, meat, eggs, fruit and vegetables, shows that the sodium/potassium ratio is increased by a factor of about 20 as a consequence of processing. The use of Low Salt, instead of sodium chloride, would result in a reduction in sodium content and an increase in potassium content, thereby significantly reducing the ratio of sodium/potassium. For most people, an increase in potassium consumption is likely to be beneficial, because the average British diet contains only about 80% of the recommended daily intake." Professor Verner Wheelock

Salt and Human Nutrition
Sometimes the two terms, "salt" and "sodium" are used interchangeably, but technically this is not correct. "Salt" is sodium chloride. By weight, it is 40% sodium and 60% chloride. Sodium is an essential nutrient, a mineral that the body cannot manufacture itself but which is required for life itself and good health. Because of sodium's importance to your body, several interacting mechanisms guard against under-consumption of salt and its threat to your body's nerves and muscles and interference with the sodium-potassium "pump" which adjusts intra- and extra-cellular pressures. If your salt intake varies widely, these mechanisms activate to assure that your body remains healthy, maintaining a relatively constant blood pressure. Chloride, too, is essential to good health. It preserves acid-base balance in the body, aids potassium absorption, supplies the essence of digestive stomach acid, and enhances the ability of the blood to carry carbon dioxide from respiring tissues to the lungs. Salt should be part of every family's food storage program. Salt has been a valuable weapon in our public health campaign against iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), iodizing salt has virtually eliminated IDD in North America and many other areas although the World Health Organization has targeted elimination of IDD globally as a top priority. Where public health authorities do not fluoridize water, adding fluoride to salt is common as in France, Switzerland and Latin America Years ago we thought that different societies have wide variations in salt intake. Current research shows that where salt is readily available, the vast majority of the world's population chooses to consume about 6-10 grams of salt a day. Including naturally occurring sodium in foods, people worldwide consume about 3,500 milligrams (mg) of sodium, Americans included. Some remote primitive peoples like the Yanamamo Indians of the Brazilian jungle who lack ready access to dietary sodium do have almost unbelievably small levels of sodium intake–far below that judged by the National Academy of Sciences to be safe for Americans. But for the rest of the world, our average intakes are typical. The National Academy of Sciences recommends that Americans consume a minimum of 500 mg/day of sodium. The European Union Population Reference Intake for males aged 18 years (an "acceptable range of intakes") is 575-3500 mg. Nutrition is important to good health. Salt is part of a healthy diet, a fact increasingly recognized by the public.

Salt and Good Health
Salt is essential not only to life, but to good health. Human blood contains 0.9% salt (sodium chloride) -- the same concentration as found in United States Pharmacopeia (USP) sodium chloride irrigant commonly used to cleanse wounds. Salt maintains the electrolyte balance inside and outside of cells. Most of our salt comes from foods, some from water. Doctors often recommend replacing water and salt lost in exercise and when working outside. Wilderness hikers know the importance of salt tablets to combat hyperthermia. Oral rehydration involves replacing both water and salt. Expectant mothers are advised to get enough salt. Increased salt intakes have been used successfully to combat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Dramatic deficiencies (e.g. "salt starvation" in India) or "excessive" sodium intakes have been associated with other conditions and diseases, such as hypertension and stomach cancer. Testing the salinity of perspiration is a good test for cystic fibrosis; scientists suspect that cystic fibrosis is caused by a deformed protein that prevents chloride outside cells from attracting needed moisture.
The National Academy of Sciences recommends that Americans consume a minimum of 500 mg/day of sodium to maintain good health. Individual needs, however, vary enormously based on their genetic make-up and the way they live their lives. While individual requirements range widely, most Americans have no trouble reaching their minimum requirements. Most consume "excess" sodium above and beyond that required for proper bodily function. The kidneys efficiently process this "excess" sodium in healthy people. Experimental studies show that most humans tolerate a wide range of sodium intakes, from about 250 mg/day to over 30,000 mg/day. The actual range is much narrower. Americans consume about 3,500 mg/day of sodium; men more, women less. The very large percentage of the population consumes 1,150- 5,750 mg/day which is termed the "hygienic
safety range" of sodium intake by renowned Swedish hypertension expert Dr. Björn Folkow. Chloride is also essential to good health. Every substance, including water, can be toxic in certain concentrations and amounts; this is not a significant concern for dietary salt.

Salt and the Elderly
The elderly are the people most at risk from a low-salt diet. Hyponatraemia (low sodium level in the blood) is dangerous and the symptoms can develop into a coma if left untreated.
Different physiological changes that occur as part of the aging process have the effect of making older people more sensitive to an electrolyte and water imbalance.
Many elderly people deliberately decrease their salt intake because they think it might cause them a high blood pressure. This assumption, however, is not based on any relevant medical and scientific evidence. Instead, some studies suggest that a decreased salt intake might be one of the causes of polypathia (a multiplicity of illnesses).So, for the elderly, it is particularly important to improve fluid intake and not to restrict salt intake.*

"Malnutrition kills nearly 6 million children a year"

Public health authorities agree: adding iodine to salt is the most cost-effective means of preventing the brain damage of iodine deficiency.

Percentage of population affected by malnutrition by country, according to United Nations statistics.
Across the world, countries are trying to increase the coverage of iodized salt. Current estimates show that there are 172 million people with goitre in the SEA Region and another 600 million are at risk. Nearly 20 million newborns are unprotected, constituting nearly 35% of the world’s unprotected newborns. (The number of unprotected newborns is derived from the number of pregnant women who do not consume adequately iodized salt). Volume 20 Number 3, August 2004 ICCIDD news Letter

SUNDARBAN SALT MANUFACTURES HIGHEST QUALITY OF SALT ALL KINDS & EARNS SKY HIGH REPUTATION IN AFRO-ASIAN COUNTRIES

Read More:
● Properties of Salt
● Salt Uses
● Chemicals From Salt
● The Economics of Salt